Happy Friday, everyone. It’s cold out there, so pour yourself a cup of Joe and join us for your morning primer. 1. John Glenn, American hero, RIP. The first man to orbit the Earth—not to mentioned a Marine Corps combat vet, U.S. senator from Ohio, and 1984 presidential candidate—died yesterday at the age of ninety-five. From The New York Times obit, which is worth reading in its entirety: In just five hours on Feb. 20, 1962, Mr. Glenn joined a select roster of Americans whose feats have seized the country’s imagination and come to embody a moment in its history, figures...

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Let's jump in: 1) The Durham Police Department meets with residents to "discuss" Frank Clark shooting. Less than a week after an officer (or officers) shot and killed a Durham man in McDougald Terrace, local residents, law enforcement and a member of the City Council converged on the T.A. Grady Recreation Center to talk about the incident. Well, except, that didn't really happen. From the INDY: It was five shots. Or was it four? There was a struggle. Or was he running away from police when he was gunned down? He fired at officers. Or did a...

Welcome to the INDY’s Election Day live blog, part 2! There are, as of this writing, approximately 240 minutes until polls close in North Carolina and our long national nightmare finally (hopefully?) comes to an end. Throughout the day, the INDY will have a team of reporters out of the streets of the Triangle, talking to voters, looking into reports of election weirdness, and generally being on the lookout for any news that breaks. As they report in, I’ll be updating this blog. (And with more frequency later in the day, after we put this week’s newspaper to bed;...

Welcome to the INDY’s Election Day live blog! There are, as of this writing, approximately 630 minutes until polls close in North Carolina and our long national nightmare finally (hopefully?) comes to an end. Throughout the day, the INDY will have a team of reporters out of the streets of the Triangle, talking to voters, looking into reports of election weirdness, and generally being on the lookout for any news that breaks. As they report in, I’ll be updating this blog. (And with more frequency later in the day, after we put this week’s newspaper to bed; one of the...

Good morning, guys and gals. The great American nightmare that has seen the rise of the worst presidential candidate in history is almost over. And in the interest of time—because instead of reading this, we would rather you were voting—we're going to keep this short and sweet. Let's dive in. 1) Trump showed up in Raleigh yesterday, lied within thirty seconds of taking stage. According to the Donald, there were thousands of people still waiting to pack into Dorton Arena when his speech began. THOUSANDS! Well, we checked. There were less than 100—and a handful of them were the men...

The first thing that struck me was the parking lot—how a nearly silent stretch of pavement could speak so loudly through vitriolic bumper stickers (including, many times over, the ever-popular slogan “Hillary for Prison”) and derogatory messages (most about President Barack Obama) painted on car windows. I mean, these vehicles, for the most part, weren’t even carrying messages of support for the man set to speak hours later inside the arena located a few hundred yards away. And as I walked toward the venue, I found more of the same in the T-shirts, hats and buttons being hawked by those...

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Good morning, one and all. Well, unless you're a political scientist. You guys and gals should be ashamed of yourselves. I mean, how dare you conduct "phony" polls to keep Donald Trump from winning the White House. 1) Trump tells crowd he is, in fact, winning. Polls? He don't need your stinking polls: The Donald told a crowd in Florida yesterday that, get this, even the polls are "rigged" against him. From WRAL: Even as his path to the presidency narrows, a defiant Donald Trump is insisting he is "winning" and urging his supporters to defy what he is calling...

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Happy Tuesday, everyone—or, as the cast of SNL would say, "Only four more days until we get to lampoon a member of the Trump family." Who's feeling lucky this week? We'll give you a hint. Her name rhymes with Sha-lania. 1) Trump's wife blames Billy Bush for "grab 'em by the pussy" tape. Well, apparently, there is a way to "egg" somebody on to the point where they boast about being a sexual predator. Solid logic, Mrs. Trump ... said nobody ever. Oh, and also, for the record, it wasn't "locker room talk." It was "boy talk"—because, you know, boys...

Good morning, one and all. Hope everybody is ready to have a laugh—or, perhaps, cry—on us. Let's jump right in: 1) Ross hammers Burr for sticking with Trump. U.S. Senate candidate Deborah Ross used Thursday's debate with Richard Burr to, mainly, call him out for continuing to support Donald Trump, despite all the crazy shit that has come to light in the last few days. We'll get to that in a moment, but for now, here is what Ross said—and how Burr attempted to justify the unjustifiable. From the N&O: “It’s very disturbing to me,” she said. “Sen. Burr has...

I’m standing outside the state Capitol, attempting to ascertain what’s on the minds of Franklin Graham’s disciples as we approach Election Day, when an old man wearing a cowboy hat lets me know who’s in charge. He calls me a “fucking sodomite” and tells me he hopes I “burn in the fires of hell.” But wait. I’m married, I tell him. To a woman. I have kids. “Well, then, you’re a sodomite lover,” he snarls. Let me point out that of all the horrid ways homosexuals are characterized in this country, the word “sodomite”—and the aggressive way it’s used—makes my blood boil. But I try...

Good morning, one and all. If for some reason you endured a media blackout yesterday, consider yourself lucky. Sharing this stuff with you makes me jealous—like when my wife binge watched the first two seasons of "Game of Thrones" after I had already experienced the carnage. 1) Donald Trump kind of says military suicides are a result of "weakness"—and even kind of saying something like that is pretty bad. Go ahead. Read that again. Let the shock pass through you and go back for seconds so you can take it all in. Remember when Trump said he liked veterans who...

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Good morning everyone. So, I had this weird dream that there was a presidential debate last night, but that one of the candidates for the most important job in the world just sniffled a lot and answered every question with bizarre rants and lies instead of, you know, plans. Weird. What? That actually happened? God help us. Let's get going. 1) Round One: Hillary Well, I mean, what can you say about what unfolded at Hofstra last night? The first presidential debate was epic—and by epic, we, of course, mean it was a shit show, as Donald Trump, a.k.a. "Sniffles"...

Congressman Richard "Proud Daddy" Hudson (R-Charlotte Motor Speedway) has some thoughts about HB 2, the NCAA, and the ACC. In a statement provided to The News & Observer: “This is political theater by the NCAA and ACC. If these multi-million dollar, tax-exempt organizations were interested in social change and not making a political statement, they would proceed with their marquee events in North Carolina and enact any transgender bathroom policy they wanted. This blatant political move – less than two months before the election – brings into question their tax-exempt status. This is an avenue to we intend to explore.”...

Good morning, folks. And for those of you who consider the opportunity to laugh at lunacy a gift, this isn't just any morning. This is Christmas morning. So let's dive toward that tree and start ripping through some wrapping paper ... so to speak. 1) NCAA pulls tournament games from North Carolina because of HB 2. Sorry college basketball, women's and men's soccer, golf, lacrosse, tennis and baseball fans. This just happened because of HB 2 (and, more to the point, that guy who lives in the Governor's Mansion). From the INDY: Greensboro was slated to host first- and second-round...

Good morning ... or for those of you recovering from Hopscotch, good afternoon. Let's get going. 1) McCrory blames Cooper, Obama for forcing him into HB 2. No, we didn't make that up. It seems the governor isn't taking his current plight well—you know, that whole getting his ass handed to him in the polls thing. So he's thinking, "Hmm. What can I do to turn the tides? Wait. I've got it. I'll blame Barack Obama and Roy Cooper for my HORRIBLE decision." Bravo, Pat. We knew you had another scummy move in you. From the N&O: McCrory said Attorney...

Hope everyone had a solid Labor Day. Now, let's get back to it. 1) Donald Trump doesn't know, "OK?" It seems like a pretty fair assessment of Donald Trump's last several months to say that he disagrees with quite a few people. But now, the White House hopeful can add another foe to his list. Himself? That's right. Remember the super-hyped immigration speech he delivered in Phoenix last week—the one where he said this: For those here illegally today, who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only. To return home and apply for reentry...

Good morning, everyone. In case you've missed it, the Donald Trump campaign is still living in a fantasy world in which black voters will actually decide the Republican nominee is their guy. Let's jump right in: 1. Trump continues to sell the "African-Americans love me" schtick, despite poll numbers that suggest he's lost his mind. Monday, he gave the Twitterverse this gem: They do? Wait a second. Let's take a look at the Aug. 29 numbers from the Monmouth University Poll. So that's 14 percent of people who are NOT white and non-Hispanic, meaning these numbers include the...

Friday, July 22, 2016

1. The Speech If you missed Trump’s RNC acceptance speech last night, you can find the text of the speech here; but really, to get the whole effect, you need to watch the video—seventy-six minutes (that’s six minutes longer than Bill Clinton in 1996 and the longest convention speech in modern history) of an angry old man yelling about how terrible everything is and what a dystopian hellscape America has become and how Syrian refugees and Mexican immigrants are going to murder your children while Hillary Clinton watches and cheers. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/us/politics/donald-trump-rnc-speech.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-abc-region®ion=span-abc-region&WT.nav=span-abc-region Americans watching this address tonight have seen the...

Friday, July 8, 2016

Two days after Philando Castile became the 123rd black person to be killed by police in America in 2016, local community groups are holding a vigil honoring him and others who have died under similar circumstances. The list is long, but it includes Alton Sterling, who was shot and killed while pinned to the ground on Tuesday in Baton Rouge, and Akiel Denkins, who was killed by police on Bragg Street in southeast Raleigh back in February. The vigil will begin at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Moore Square Park (200 S. Blount, in downtown Raleigh). According to a release, the...

Friday, May 27, 2016

1. The Four Horseman are suiting up. We’ll begin with an item that, while not really being “news,” is nonetheless kind of mind-boggling: Donald Trump—the orange-hued reality-TV insult comic, the animated incarnation of those conspiracy chain emails your aunt sends you—will officially be the Republican Party’s nominee for president. Of the United States. God help us all. The New York billionaire shrugged off signs of discord in his party hours after sewing up the number of delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination, a feat that completed an unlikely rise that has upended the political landscape and set the...

Friday, April 8, 2016

Lots of news to get to on this beautiful Friday morning. But first, a quick reminder: Full Frame is in full swing, and there are lots and lots of flicks worth checking out. OK, let’s go: 1. Stop fighting, guys! The Democratic presidential primary has gotten ugly—not ugly on the level of Donald Trump’s hands, but ugly by the standards of what to now has been a mostly high-minded contest. The metrics of the race haven’t changed—Bernie is doing better than anyone thought; Hillary still has a basically insurmountable delegate lead—but the tone has, with the candidates going back and...

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Despite fears that confusion surrounding the state’s new voter ID law would reduce turnout and slow down lines, it appears that voting in at least two Raleigh precincts is going fairly smoothly. At around 1:30 p.m. at the Cameron Village Library, Chief Judge Barbara Abernathy said that around six hundred voters had cast their ballots. “We’ve had an awesome turnout,” she said. Voter Emily McCrary, who named presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and superintendent of public schools candidate Henry Pankey as two candidates she cast ballots for, said the whole process took her five minutes. “I think it’s important,” McCrary said...

So that Republican debate last night was … civil? Weird. Per POLITICO, GOP insiders generally think Marco Rubio had the debate he needed, but it probably came too late to stop Trump. Marco Rubio delivered a strong debate performance on Thursday night – but it probably won’t save him in Florida next week against Donald Trump. That’s the verdict rendered by The POLITICO Caucus, a panel of activists, strategists and operatives in key states participating in the presidential primary process this month — including Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, which vote on March 15. A majority of Republican insiders...

Friday, March 4, 2016

Well, here’s a headline you simply don’t see in a major metro daily’s coverage of a presidential race: Yes, Donald Trump, accused of having small hands—AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS—went into last night’s presidential debate and defended the size of, um, Little Donald. Trump found himself defending his business record and his conservative credentials on several fronts, lashed out repeatedly at Marco Rubio, and drew groans and gasps when he offered an unsolicited defense of the size of his genitalia. Related: The debate came just hours after the Republican Party’s 2012 nominee joined a cast of...

Thursday, March 3, 2016

In the aftermath of Akiel Denkins’s death in Southeast Raleigh Monday, Bishop Darnell Dixon Sr. of the Bible Way Temple has been at the forefront of the response from the community. On Wednesday morning, he sat down with the INDY to talk about the unfair perceptions of Southeast Raleigh, the aftermath of Akiel Denkins’s death, and where the community can go from here. INDY: When did you first hear about this happening? Bishop Darnell Dixon Sr.: I heard about this about thirty minutes after it happened. I was working out, and my wife told me it happened up the...